Tag: french

Categories
Europe France Research Grant

Colmar: Straight Out of a Fairy Tale

Bonjour, mes amis!  The above pictures are from Colmar, France.

So, it’s my last week in Strasbourg!  Since my last post in Bordeaux, I’ve been wrapping up my research, including writing myfinal report.  I’ve also taken the time to revisit my favorite places in Strasbourg.  Including, but not limited to: that ice cream place that scoops ice cream into a flower design, the Jardin de l’Orangerie, Place Kléber, the square around the cathedral, the Galaries Lafayette, and of course the lovely cobblestone streets of Petite France.  I even went in one of the fancy jewelry shops and pretended to be wealthy and tried some of it on.

Today, I figured I would try to see a little more of Alsace, and so I headed to Colmar, which I’m pretty sure I saw on a list of “fairy tale towns in Europe” once.  And I can see why!  From the train station, you walk through a beautiful park with statues and fountains to get to the centre ville.  I spent most of my day wandering, although I had a few memorable interactions with the French…

1. Since I didn’t have a map, I asked the lady in a Guess store where the “plus belles endroits” are, and she told me how to get to the area by the canals.  She also told me about her children and how she considers talking on the phone in a store to be rude.  She was probably disappointed I didn’t buy anything.

2. At a bookstore, a woman asked me to find a psychology book for her on this one shelf (at least I think that’s what she was asking?  I had a hard time understanding her) and so I picked out one on psychiatry.  Hopefully she’s satisfied with that……  I’m still confused about that exchange.

3. And at another store, I was searching for Christmas gifts (get excited, family) when two salespeople came over to ask if I needed help finding anything and if I’d been there before and if I was satisfied with their service.  Considering I still have a stress reaction when people unexpectedly speak to me in French, the encounter was a bit overwhelming, but I answered all their questions and (I think) they even complimented my speaking ability!

Colmar is charming and beautiful, and I’m glad I took the time to do a day trip there before I left.  Everyone I interacted with was incredibly nice, and I definitely recommend it if you’re in the area.  Tomorrow, I’m packing up for the summer, because Thursday I’m off to Paris!  I have three days by myself and then my friend Christine is joining me for my last couple days before I return to the US.  If you told me a few years ago that I would be spending my 21st birthday in Paris, I would never have believed it!  It feels like a dream come true.

À bientôt.

Categories
Europe France Research Grant

Strasbourg: Parlez-Vous Français?

Bonjour from Strasbourg!

I’ve spent the last week exploring the city and starting my research, which involves a lot of sending emails to try to get interviews (at varying degrees of success).  I had my first interview last Thursday, which went incredibly well!  The woman walked me through their system, helped me refine my questions, and made sure to speak slowly and write down the important details for me.  Considering how nervous I was, it was nice to have such a good experience to start everything off!

I’ve been busy trying to immerse myself in the culture as well.  The weekend before last, there was some kind of festival, so it was as though the entire city had been turned into a giant garage sale, which was fun.  And on Tuesday, I went to an event that was essentially like multilingual speed dating, where people who want to work on English and people who want to work on French meet up and speak in 7-10 minutes in each language.

This past weekend, I went and visited the Strasbourg Modern Art Museum, as pictured above.  As I’ve mentioned before on this blog (see the Guggenheim Museum), modern art is hit or miss for me.  There was a whole exhibit on the the history of modern art, that started with my favorite style, impressionism, and then went through different phases, including everything from cubism to stained glass until it got to the extremely modern part, where I counted four canvases painted entirely black.  There was also a sculpture that looked like a twisted churro, a section with a lot of pencils that I think had something to do with the Cold War, a dress made out of dried cow organs, and some rocks arranged in a giant circle.  It’s always a bit unsettling in a modern art museum, because you never know what to expect when you round the corner.  In one exhibit, there was this room off of the main section.  When you walked in, it was very dark, with black walls and a single light bulb illuminating the room.  What made it interesting was the soundtrack of loudly crashing waves, so it felt as though you’d walked under the deck of a ship.

Now I want to talk a little about the French language, because that was the #1 question I got when I told people about this project.  It has been a challenge, as expected.  As a little background, I started taking French classes at the age of 12, because I wanted to start a foreign language and I had this crazy idea that taking ballet classes would make it easier.  I continued until my senior year of high school, when it stopped being offered.  When I got to Northwestern, I took two quarters more to obtain my required proficiency and didn’t continue.  I was over the comprehension videos about cheesemaking, the endless conjugation charts, the nitpicking grammar, the professor who seemed upset when my class was not already fluent… and then I studied abroad, and was reminded why I took French in the first place.  I sat in my Danish classes and realized I liked taking foreign language classes, and when I visited Paris I decided that if I was brave enough to speak to French speakers, I could handle taking another class at college.  And then, I upped the ante by applying for this project…

The years of French class have mostly prepared me for this.  I’ve had conversations with people.  In the airport, over lunch, with my Airbnb hosts, at the interview.  There’s still a part of me that’s scared of talking to people, and I wish I could casually respond when I’m on a train and it gets delayed and the person next to me asks me a question.  I wish I could go into a shop and not freeze when they ask me if I need help finding things.  I often understand what’s going on, but responding quickly is difficult.  I think having these conversations has been good for me, though, and I’m hoping by the end of the summer it won’t be so scary.

À bientôt!

Categories
Europe France Research Grant

Strasbourg: First Impressions

Bonjour from Strasbourg!

My flight landed yesterday morning, and then I had a long day at the airport waiting for my TGV train.  I ended up using my French skills to talk to a French couple, which was a huge confidence boost for me.  Also, back when I first started French classes in 7th grade, I assumed that I would never need to worry about the pronunciation of the alphabet?  I was totally wrong.  The French couple asked me about American slang that they noticed on a trip, and wanted me to spell it out.  So I guess that stupid catchy alphabet song did eventually pay off.

Thoughts on the TGV train: first of all, amazing how quickly I could get across the country.  Major props to the French on that.  However, it is slightly terrifying to pass another TGV train.  But overall, a good experience, the train was super comfortable and clean.

From there I took a bus to my Airbnb, which is a nice small apartment a bit outside of the city.  The people I’m living with, a woman and her daughter, have been very welcoming, and I’ve been able to practice a bit of my French with them as well.  They have a cat, which is a new experience for me since my family has always had dogs.  Last night the cat stood outside my door for several hours and stared at me, and this morning it pushed open my door so it could lay under my bed for about an hour.  Is this how cats always are?

This morning I headed into the city for the first time.  I went to a café for a pastry, and got the chance to speak to a few French people again, who were very understanding at my struggles to put together coherent sentences and just spoke slowly to me in French.  Then I wandered around for a bit and ended up taking a boat tour.  The information wasn’t exceptionally useful, but it was a great way to see different areas of the city, from the historic city center to the more modern section with the UN headquarters.

Tonight, my Airbnb hosts are taking me to go see the fireworks for Bastille Day!

Overall, I think it’s going well.  My French is definitely going to get significantly better.  I’m not always that confident about my ability to speak to people, but everyone has been so understanding and wonderful so far.  I can’t wait to see more of the city and start reaching out to people for my research!

Categories
Europe France Study Abroad

Paris: Everything I Dreamed It Would Be And More

Five days was not enough.  I fell completely in love with the city.  It was vibrant and gorgeous, and for the first time since coming to Europe I could actually communicate properly with people in their native language.  I never thought I would be excited at being able to read advertisements and other signs on the street…

Strangely enough, though, there was a little culture shock.  When I first got on the train it struck me as so inconvenient that I would have to put my ticket in the machine, since in Denmark they just assume you’ve paid.  I realized I’ve lost my ability to jaywalk.  And, as I walked by a shop, someone who worked there said “Bonjour!” and it took me an absurd amount of time to respond since Danish people would probably rather vote for a Republican than talk to a stranger on the street just to say Hi. (yes I’m totally exaggerating no Dane would ever vote for a Republican)

My first day I went to the Louvre and wandered around until I reached my daily art limit.  Then I walked through the city along the Seine and soaked up the beauty of the city.  That night, Kelcy took me to the Eiffel Tower to see the lights as they sparkled and L’Arc de Triomphe, and I could barely contain my excitement at seeing the two most iconic monuments in Paris.

The next morning, Kelcy had to go to class and so I met up with Chen He, my friend from Northwestern.  We went to some of the less touristy spots, like a taxidermy shop/museum (“Do you like dead animals?”) and France’s oldest library!  It was great to get to see some places I wouldn’t have necessarily explored on my own, and after that I met up with my Impressionism class.  We went to the Opera Garnier and got a tour of that, which was beautiful.  I wish I would have been able to see a show there!

After that, we had free time, and I had my most successful encounter in French to date.  I went to one of the really nice department stores, and went to the bookstore part because I decided I wanted another book in French.  In the mystery section, I found Agatha Christie, and figured I could get And Then There Were None.  Except it wasn’t called that, so I had to ask a sales assistant, which meant I had to give a few details of the plot so that he could tell me what the French name was.  Dix Petits Nègres, if you’re interested.  Political correctness is not Europe’s strong suit.

The next day we got a sightseeing tour and then headed to Versailles!  It was beautiful, but honestly after seeing the palaces in Russia I wasn’t as impressed as I thought I would be.  The Hall of Mirrors was cool, and I think the gardens would be amazing if they had flowers (that’s the struggle of visiting during November….) but overall, most of the rooms seemed fairly normal.  Later that night, I went back to the Louvre and finally saw the Mona Lisa.

The art didn’t stop there, because our next morning started with Musée de l’Orangerie, which had Monet’s water lilies, followed by Musée d’Orsay with most well known impressionist works.  It was pretty awesome to see art where I knew the pieces and their context, and impressionism is my favorite movement (based on my very limited knowledge of art).  This was followed by more free time, in which I went with a friend to the catacombs.  I’ve now seen more bones than I ever expected to, although the basement part of Hamlet’s castle was actually far creepier.  It was definitely worth the visit though!

The final highlight of the trip was our Seine dinner cruise.  Everyone got dressed up and we had three hours of floating down the Seine, with a three course meal and quite a bit of free wine.  The views were lovely, as was the company and the alcohol.  Afterwards, Alanna and I went to find a bar to experience Parisian nightlife and we ended up finding a wine bar!  The atmosphere was relaxed and the bartender recommended a very good light red wine.  We felt very classy and French, and he even gave us a 3 euro discount at the end of the night so that was exciting.  (But also confusing.)

My last morning, I went to part of the mass at Notre Dame.  The music and stained glass windows were very beautiful.  After I left, I went to L’Arc de Triomphe again to climb it, which had amazing views of the city.  I took a lot of selfies.  When I got down again, Kelcy took me to Shakespeare and Company and then I spent the rest of my time wandering around the Latin Quarter before meeting up with my class once more to head to the airport.

Everyone says Parisians are rude, that they’re the New Yorkers of Europe.  Having never been to New York, I can’t really make that comparison, but the Parisians I interacted with were not rude.  I usually spoke to them in French, and they apparently deemed it acceptable.  In fact, the one person I talked to who switched to English asked me in French first if we should switch to English (which was great since I was getting directions).

Overall, it was a fantastic five days.  Paris is my favorite place I’ve ever been to, and I know I’ll be back.

À bientôt, Paris.  Je t’adore.